STAT3 and central nervous system cancer: In facts, among the factors shown here to modulate ALDH1A3 expression, C/EBPβ and STAT3 have already emerged as prognostically relevant modulators of the glioma mesenchymal phenotype [31, 48] and NFkB was shown to be constitutively active in a number of tumors [32], including MPM, where its constitutive activity may results from the asbestos-induced chronical inflammation [49].